>> Monday, September 10, 2012

This weekend, Stephen and I had planned to both run a 10 mile race an hour away in Ithaca, NY. Only Stephen made it to the start line.

I'm not injured. I'm not bowing out of the half due to sub-par training. We had child care all lined up (thanks again L + J!). Nah. There's really no excuse. I just don't feel like running races anymore that aren't my main focus. I'll get back to this in a moment.

First, Stephen's day:

We got to the race about an hour before it started. Ada and I hung out while Stephen warmed up. The weather was great. Just under 60 degrees and spitting rain. Fall is definitely on its way.

The race started at 9:15 AM, 15 minutes after the 5-miler portion of the day. Without much fanfare, they were off. The race traveled a loop around town, with the high school centrally located and serving as a great spectating spot for miles 3, 5, 7, and 10.

Ada and I walked a loop so we'd be able to cheer at each of these markers (ish).

At the 3 mile point, I discovered that Stephen and another guy were in the (far) lead. However, the other guy's singlet indicated that he's part of a local elite running club. So, I hoped he hadn't started the race too fast for comfort.

We headed back so we could catch him at mile 5 . . .

We kept walking to catch glimpses at all the mile markers. I think I walked like four miles in all. An ulterior motive was to get Ada to take a nap. And she didn't sleep a wink the entire time. I guess she was too excited to cheer daddy on.

So, we did just that.

We walked to the finish after seeing him at mile 7. I knew his goal was to finish somewhere in the 55-minute range, so we watched the clock as it ticked closer and closer to this point.

We saw the top finisher coming in and soon after -- there was Stephen. He crossed the line second in 56:02 -- missing his goal by a mere three seconds! That's 5:37 pace, which is crazy. Too crazy for me to even think about running ONE mile in, let alone 10.

Stephen is hard on himself, though. He says he could have run a better race if he had conserved more of his energy on that first lap of the course. Oh well. I guess he'll need to settle for an 80-second PR. Tough!

As for me -- I'm doing well with my half marathon training. Not 100% convinced I'll meet my 1:45 time goal for October's race. But I'm sure I'll complete a solid run regardless. I am feeling much more comfortable at double digit distances since my first postpartum half marathon back in May.

Ada has also spaced out her feeding sessions a bit, so a long run isn't quite as difficult to fit in as it used to be.

I have decided recently not to race -- or, rather, participate in -- everything I see on the runners club calendar. For this particular 10 mile race, I didn't feel like waking up early, feeding Ada, driving an hour, hoping Ada would nap/not get cranky during the race, racing 10 miles, feeding Ada again, and then driving an hour home.

Call me lazy, but I'd rather just do the training runs called for in my plan.

Do you run lots of races or pick just a key few? I used to run 'em all. Used a lot as speedwork, and it was good. Now that we'd on a tighter budget and stricter schedule, it isn't making sense. But who knows!